Gospel Trail tourist cable car approved in today’s cabinet meeting to run between Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor.

Tourism Ministry to allocate up to NIS 600,000 and Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee up to NIS 400,000 for engineering planning purposes

Jerusalem, September 3, 2017- In today’s cabinet meeting, the construction of a Gospel Trail tourist cable car between Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor was approved. The tourist project, a collaboration between the Tourism Ministry Yariv Levin , the Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri and the Upper Nazareth municipality, will connect historic sites in the area that lie within the municipal boundaries of Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor. This area is of significant tourist and religious interest and attracts millions of tourists and pilgrims from around the world, as well as Israeli visitors.

The government of Israel has taken many strategic decisions in recent years to strengthen and encourage both incoming and domestic tourism in the north. This includes adding attractions that will increase tourist traffic, strengthen the local economy and increase the workforce. Cable cars of this nature in other tourism locations around the world serve as significant tourist attractions.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin: “The cable car will enrich the tourist experience and help bring the large numbers of incoming tourists who visit Nazareth to also visit Upper Nazareth, thereby contributing to the local economy. A tourist cable car in this area, running between Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor, will serve as a main tourism anchor and will help attract many tourists from Israel and around the world. The cable car will be a unique tourist attraction, offering passengers great vantage points over the unique sites and sights in the area, enriching the tourist experience and making the area more accessible.”

Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri: “The Galilee in general and the Nazareth ridge in particular is an area in which rich history and ancient traditions are intertwined. The cable car is good news for the people of the Galilee and the area’s many visitors – tourists from Israel and overseas. The ministry will continue to work to facilitate such important tourism projects.”

The cable car will be operated by a company with much experience in the field, to be selected in a tender, in accordance with the relevant procedures. The operation and maintenance of the cable car will be funded by entrance fees.


Background
According to the Incoming Tourism Survey of the Tourism Ministry, 30% of all tourists visited Nazareth and 36% visited the Lower Galilee and the Sea of Galilee – over one million tourists, many of them pilgrims. The area is rich in sites of interest to Christian tourists, including, among others, Mount Tabor, Mount of the Beatitudes, the Gospel Trail etc.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, about 90,000 tourists stay in Nazareth, equating to about 220,000 hotel bed nights. The average tourist stay in Nazareth is 2.5 nights/3 days.